Like Sister Love Brother
by Merebelle14084
Summary: Gabriella just moved into town, with her teenage son. Troy's trying to raise his teenage daughter, soon their children are in love. But what could happen if they were related? A story about love, trust, friendship, family, and finding where you belong.TxG
1. Another Day in Hell

Like sister Love Brother

Another day in hell

"Matthew Alexander Montez, you get your butt out of bed and march it downstairs, you're going to be late!" Gabriella yelled as she walked into her teenage son's bedroom banging a frying pan with a spoon.

Gabriella Elizabeth Montez was a shy, sweet woman. She had grown up in New Mexico as an only child, with great friends. She had gone her separate way for college to get her teaching degree, while her friends went to college around the area they had grown up in. Gabriella now lived in St. Louis, Missouri with her teenage son, who had toughened her up a bit.

"Humph bumph." Matt moaned, burying his face in his pillow. Gabriella sighed, it was her first day as a teacher at Western Valley High school and she was going to be late.

Gabriella scowled and snatched the covers off the bed, throwing them onto the beige carpet. She grabbed one of his feet and attempted to tug him out of bed, but to no avail.

"I'm having a good dream." he told her, before burying his head under the pillow once again. Gabriella sighed, how could one still be dreaming when they where awake?

She tiptoed into her son's bathroom, and spent five seconds looking around in disgust at a bathroom that obviously hadn't been cleaned like she'd asked. She grabbed her fine china water pitcher that she kept up there for emergency's, such as this. She filled it to the brim with cool water and walked over to her sons bed. Gabriella sighed to herself before dumping the cold pitcher right onto Matt's bare stomach.

A scream echoed throughout the neighborhood.

* * *

"Morning Dad." Stevie said as she kissed her father on the cheek, pouring him some orange juice as he read the morning paper.

Troy Bolton flipped the paper down in half to stare intensely at his daughter. He gave up that attempt when he realized that at seventeen, his glare no longer fazed her. He looked at his daughter, her hair was pulled back slightly, but a few stray caramel blonde curls framed her face. Her baby Phat jeans and Aeropostle tank showed off the figure she had developed. She wasn't so little anymore.

"Stephanie Maria Bolton, look at me when I'm talking to you." he said sternly, setting the newspaper down on the kitchen table.

Stevie's colbat blue eyes snapped up to look at his face, she ran over his facial expression in her mind as she paused for a moment, and stopped spreading apricot jam on her toast.

"Dad, you weren't talking to me." Stevie replied, before paling slightly in the face. "Were you spying on me?" she asked accusingly, dropping her toast on her plate to stab a jam covered finger at his chest.

"You told me you were just going to hang out with Monica last night." Troy said, staring his daughter down. Stevie squirmed slightly under his gaze, her skin flushing somewhat embarrassed. Troy smirked inwardly, he could still make her nervous.

"Yeah…and?" Stevie asked. She knew not to give anything away, for all she knew, her dad might know nothing.

"Monica called last night while you were gone, she wanted to know what you got for number seven in Chemistry." Troy said sternly, worried about where his baby girl had been, and more importantly, if their was a guy involved. "You might want to collaborate stories next time." he said sarcastically.

"I'll take that into consideration?" she replied, but more as a question.

"You going to tell me where you really where?" Troy asked her, giving her the option of the easy way.

"Um…." Stevie pretended to think "No." she answered in a duh tone.

"Until then, you're grounded. Give me your car keys, I'm driving you to school today." Troy told her, going through her backpack.

"Dad, there is private stuff in there!" Stevie screeched lunging for her backpack, and tossing him her car keys as she rearranged the stuff inside her school bag.

"Get in the back." Troy instructed, as Stevie stomped out to her Porsche, ready to head off to another day of hell.

* * *

"Ma, can you let me out three blocks away?" Matt said casually, slipping the remark into the conversation about extra circular activities.

Gabriella rolled her eyes, before thinking about how lucky she had had it in high school. Arriving each day with either Sharpay in her car, or with her boyfriend Troy. She sighed before tapping the steering wheel. Matt was already late, but she guessed that Troy would have done it for their son.

"Sure," she said stopping the car and pulling over. "I don't know how safe this part of the city is, so be careful okay." Matt rolled his eyes when he thought she wasn't looking but smiled at her anyways.

"Okay, I'll call if I get lost. Love you ma." he said giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"You too." Gabriella said, marveling in how grown up her seventeen year old son was. It seemed like just yesterday he was seven. She remembered the time and sped off towards her new job at Western Valley High School.

* * *

"Thank you for humiliating me for life." Stevie growled as she stormed out of the car and towards the door of Eastern Hills High School. Troy sighed, if he had known he would be raising a teenage daughter, he would have actually read those parenting books Gabriella had insisted on when she was pregnant.

Troy parked in his designated spot and rushed towards the gym, where he would teach his first lesson of the day. He walked in to find that the whole Freshmen class was already dressed and prepared for whatever he had in store. To bad he had no clue what he had in store.

"Alright wildcats, today is a special day, it's one of the few times a year that co-ed is allowed to play dodge ball." he announced, receiving cheers from the boys and whispers of terror from most of the girls.

"Okay, since this is co-ed, we're going to make this fair for everyone. Head shots are written as acceptable in the handbook, however, guys cannot head shot a girl, do that and you're out." Troy began, Tonya, or Tony, Chad's daughter cleared her throat. "Same for girls. If you injure a girl you walk them to the nurse, if you injure a guy you have to help walk him if he can't walk. Girls get the balls first, I'm picking teams, and I want to see some real participation. Tony, go get the equipment." Troy told them, and soon the game was on.

* * *

"Are you mad at me Steph?" Monica asked Stevie as she scribbled in her "thought journal" in homeroom.

"For the last time Monica, I'm not mad at you." she told her patting her friend on the shoulder. Monica could be the splitting image of Taylor, the same preppy style and classic curly ponytail. "It's not like it's your fault." she said thinking of something going on in her life that she would actually let a teacher read.

"You're going to have to tell him eventually." Tara piped in. Tara was petite like her mother, and had freckles doting her cheeks and nose. She had her dad's shaggy black hair that hung past her ears, and dressed in flowing girly outfits that she accessorized with a grungy hat.

"Yes, but eventually is not today, this week, or this month." Stevie replied, and scribbled in her thought journal about how her cousin had gotten a new gerbil, although she didn't actually have any relatives that she knew of.

"Class, progress reports will be mailed home at the end of the week. You'll only receive one if you have a grade of a c or lower in any of your main classes, science, math, literature, and history."

"Shit." Stevie said burying her face in her hands. Monica rubbed her back in an attempt to comfort her while Tara just twirled her pencil and said "Well, still gonna wait a month?"

* * *

"Hey guys, today we're going to run out on the track. Now, the girls are going to be out there, and if I see any of you harassing them you'll be in big trouble, got it?" Troy told the class, and they all nodded.

"By them you mean Stevie right Coach?" Andrew said. Andrew was Ryan's son, he had bright red hair, green eyes, and freckles, he looked and acted nothing like his dad. He was the star of the football team.

Troy shot Andrew a pointed look, before rolling his eyes and nodding. All the guys laughed as they headed out to the field.

* * *

"There's your dad, now would be your first opportunity to tell him, and not be grounded so you could come to the party Saturday." Harmony said. Harmony had Moca colored skin with light brown eyes, with wavy platinum blonde hair. She had her mother's build and talent in show business.

"You realize that after I tell him I'll still be grounded?" Stevie said sarcastically shooting a glare at her friend. Harmony ignored the glare and shrugged waving at hockey captain Jake as he passed her.

"Oh crap, there's Andrew, I gotta run." Tara said stepping up her pace to where she passed the girls and some of the guys.

Harmony threw back her hair laughing at her friends desperate attempt to escape her cousin's attempts of flirting. She slowed down so she could talk to Michael, who was captain of lacrosse.

"What's really bothering you about telling your dad?" Monica asked Stevie who blushed lightly and looked somewhat ashamed.

"Well, you know about my bad grade in English." Stevie told Monica as they noticed Tara and Andrew lap them.

"Yeah, but it must be raised up to a C by now at least, right?" Monica asked her friend, examining her eyes for signs of a secret. Stevie's eyes paled in color for a second. Bingo, Monica thought to herself.

"No, it's still a D." she whispered, so softly that Monica could hardly hear her. Monica's eyes widened.

"That's so cheap, it's been a month now, how much are you paying him to tutor you?" Monica asked. Stevie bit her lip and Monica noticed a tear was filling her left eyes.

"I couldn't afford to pay him." Stevie muttered, almost as if she were in a different world now.

"So then…Oh my god…Did you and him…?" Monica asked, her eyes bulging. Stevie was still running, red and sweaty, but her limbs seemed to tangle.

"No, but everything accept that…" Stevie told her, running so fast that Monica could hardly keep up. She didn't notice the tears streaming down her face as she remembered.

_Flashback_

_"I'm sorry Jake, I can't afford to pay you, my dad can't find out about this." Stevie said as she closed her literature book and stuffed it into her book bag._

_"It's okay Steph, I'm sure we can arrange something else." Jake said kindly, in a reassuring tone._

_"Really? Thank you so much!" she squealed, delighted. Jake just smiled an odd smile at her reaction. She quieted herself and watched his facial expressions closely. Soon his lips were on hers._

_"Jake, stop it!" she shouted pushing him away after her brain registered what was going on._

_"Come on Stevie, I'm not going to hurt you." Jake said holding his arms out to embrace her._

_"I'm not having sex with you." she hissed, quickly noticing that Jake was blocking the only way out of his room._

_"I would never ask you to do that, just some harmless kissing, come on. Wouldn't want daddy to find out about your D in Lit?" Jake asked her in a slightly taunting voice._

_Stevie turned over the options in her head. Her mom had been good at literature, an avid reader her dad had told her. She even had a bookshelf in her room stacked with her mother's favorites. Her dad couldn't find out that she wasn't like that, she was all he had left of her. Just kissing wouldn't hurt anyone right?_

_"Nobody finds out about any of this." Stevie told him._

_Jake nodded curtly before grabbing Stevie towards him and sealing his lips with hers. She didn't kiss back until he reached down and squeezed her ass, and when she started too, she didn't like what she was feeling. As Jake picked her up and stumbled towards his bed she wanted to cry, but it was just kissing right? Wrong._

"Did he, rape you?" Monica whispered. Stevie shook her head no and burst into tears, tripping over her feet.

"No, everything but that," she sobbed, and she could see her friends running over through her blurred vision. Her dad was with them.

"This has been going on for a month!" Monica roared, startling Stevie and making her scoot backwards. "I'm telling your dad." she declared as Stevie shook her head no through her sobs.

"Telling me what?" Coach Bolton said as he knelt down next to his daughter.

"Oh Daddy." Stevie sobbed, pulling herself against Troy's chest and tangling her fists in his shirt. Troy just cradled her and kissed her forehead, like he did when she was three, and thought the nightmare was real. Sadly, this time it was.

* * *

"Now we're finally done with the tour of the school, right now you have advanced literature, my buddy Andrew is in that class. Just say you got a tour from Connor Danforth." Connor said, and Matt nodded. He'd never meet anyone quite like Connor Danforth. His sense of humor and huge afro made him one of the most popular seniors, and he wasn't even upset that he had to show a Junior around the school.

"Cool, thanks man." Matt said as they did their buddy handshake that they had come up with in the past two and a half hours.

"No prob!" Connor said before he dashed down the hall to catch up with a dark haired girl, who Matt guessed was his girlfriend.

"Welcome to English literature, advanced. It's an honor to welcome a new student today, Matthew Montez if you could raise your hand." Ms. Darbus said. Matt raised his hand and the young teacher with light blonde hair beamed at him, before scanning the room. "Matthew, or do you go by Matt?" she asked and before waiting for his answer continued "You can take a seat next to Mr. Evan's, Andrew raise your hand. Andrew paused his conversation with Harmony and raised his hand, before going back to the conversation that was taking place in hushed whispers.

Matt plopped down in the seat next to Andrew, and in front of Harmony. Andrew wore a tired smile as he shook Matt's hand.

"I'm Andrew Evans, nice to know you." he said before standing up to pass out the books.

"I'm Harmony Evans, Andy's cousin. It's nice to meet you, just to let you know if you have a later gym period it's canceled until further notice." Harmony said as she began to file her nails.

"Thanks, but I think my gym was last hour." Matt said politely as he thanked Andrew for the book.

"Then just be glad you weren't there man." Andrew said as he gave Harmony a book.

Matt looked at Harmony in confusion but she just shrugged as if she was clueless, thank god for acting lessons.

Everyone looked at the title of the book, and simultaneously groaned.

1776 by David McCullough

"History, god kill me now." Andrew sighed as Harmony skimmed through the book.

"Well, how's it look?" Matt asked, afraid for the answer.

"Boring as hell." she responded, stuffing the book into her bag and tagging both Andrew and Matt for their homework, an after school study group.

* * *

"Are you sure you'll be okay, I can come get you any time." Troy told his daughter, as she embraced him tightly.

"I'll be fine daddy, we'll talk about it later, I just need some time, and my friends are all very supportive." Stevie whispered as her dad kissed her forehead.

"Call me when you're ready to come home." he told her, before giving her a wave and shuffling out the door before he got sucked into talking to Sharpay.

"Hey Steph, how are you doing?" Harmony asked as they embraced when Stevie entered the study.

"I'm okay." she muttered, twirling a curl around her finger nervously.

Andrew walked up and gave her a huge hug, picking her up and messing with her hair, as all her best guy friends did.

"Did you tell him what happened yet?" Andrew asked, he had heard all of Jake's side of the story in the locker room when Coach had been comforting his daughter. Jake had sounded so full of himself, talking about how he had tricked her, yet she wanted it. Bragging that it was with coaches daughter. It took all of every guys strength not to murder him on the spot right there. Everybody loved Stevie, she was a sweet girl that came to all their games, as a cheerleader and friend.

"No, he's giving me time." she responded quietly, snuggling up on the couch, and pulling her literature book out of her bag. She was in a different lit class then them, but she still hated her book. Nicolas Sparks was not the kind of thing she wanted to be reading at this point in time.

"Oh, sorry man. Stevie, this is Matt." Andrew told her, and Stevie stood up to shake hands with Matt, who snapped out of his dream world, wondering what had happened to the poor girl.

She had a weird feeling that she already knew him, even though she knew she didn't, she didn't know anybody who was that gorgeous. He had dark brown, almost black hair, that was somewhat scruffy, sort of Zack Efron style. He had tan skin, and what looked like a perfectly toned body. His chocolate brown eyes met her intense blue ones and he smiled.

Matt couldn't help but feel like he had already known her from somewhere, but he knew that was impossible, he would remember those eyes anywhere. Her caramel blonde hair was naturally curly, and some of her curls near the top of her head were pulled up into a small ponytail, with curls framing her shoulders. She had pale skin, but not too pale, and was petite, sort of like an angel.

"Stephanie Bolton." she said reaching out to shake his hand.

Matt gave her a thousand watt smile "Matt Montez." he told her, and as their hands touched, they both felt a zap, as if this was the person they were waiting to meet all their lives.

* * *

**Reviews are appreciated, all questions will be answered.**

**So obviously this isn't your typical parent trap kind of story, read the next chapter to find out Troy's reaction to what happened with his daughter, and how it will bring Stevie and Matt closer together.**


	2. Foward, Flip, Splits

Forward, Flip, Splits

"This is hopeless there's nothing in here." Chad whined as he flipped through the Eastern Hills High School teacher handbook.

"I'm sorry Troy, there's nothing in the student hand book either." Taylor said with a sigh, twirling her hair around her finger as she slammed the hand book shut.

"There has to be something in here to get that Jake kid in trouble." Troy said angrily as he began frantically flipping through the book.

"Look man, she didn't deserve to had that happen, but she didn't say no." Chad said, wincing as Troy glared at him with a look that could melt steel, before he sighed and rubbed his forehead defeated. Chad was never right, but this was the one time where he was.

"All she told me is that she had too. She knows that I would be mad about a D, but I would never be that mad. There has to be something, she wouldn't have just given up and let him, there has to be something!" Troy said angrily pounding his fist on the table.

"Maybe there is something, a mind thing or something. A reason that she wouldn't want to fail English." Taylor said, trying to convince Troy and herself at the same time. But then again, who wants to fail English?

"We can't get him suspended, as far as we know, she said it was consensual, that doesn't mean she had to like it." Chad said pounding his fist into his forehead.

All three adults were absolutely exhausted, bags were under their eyes. Upstairs Tony, Stevie, and Monica all slept. Connor was having a meeting with some of the guys in the basement, probably plotting out a way to kill Jake at school tomorrow. Normally Chad or Troy would put a stop to that nonsense, but tonight they were all for it.

"When she left, god, when she left I promised her, I promised Gabriella, I promised myself, I promised I would take care of her for when she came back." Troy told them, tears forming in his colbat blue eyes.

Tears formed in Taylor's eyes, the day that her best friend left becoming fresh in her memory. Everyone had given up hope on ever seeing Gabriella again, but obviously Troy hadn't.

"You're doing your best man. It could have just as easily been Tara, or, Monica." Chad said choking on his own daughters name, picturing her upstairs cuddled next to Stevie, her curls fanned out over her pillow, sleeping without a care in the world.

The adults quieted as they heard sneakers trampling up the stairs and into the kitchen, looking at the adults seated around the bar on their barstools. Connor approached Troy and his dad, while the other guys hung back.

"You find anything Dad?" he asked leaning over the bar and looking at their hand books. The disappointed looks on the adults faces gave it away.

"We'll watch over her at school coach." Connor said quietly, giving the guys a nod as they dispersed at the door and into various cars.

"Thanks Connor." Troy told him with a nod, before walking into the Danforth's guest room and collapsing on the bed.

* * *

"Class, this is Matthew Montez, Matt, this is homeroom. Grab a journal and begin your thought journal. Please keep everything school appropriate, you can sit in the empty desk there." the homeroom teacher pointed to the empty desk behind Stevie.

As Matt walked towards the back of the class he gave a brief wave at Andrew and nodded at Monica. As he passed Stevie he caught her enchanting eyes, they seemed broken. Almost like looking into a shattered a mirror. He smiled at her and watched her flush and smile back, her eyes going back to normal for a split second. That's better, he thought.

"What are you writing about?" Tara asked Stevie, who was tapping her pencil to her chin thoughtfully, carefully scribbling thoughts in perfect cursive every few seconds.

"How I slept over at Monica's house." Stevie replied, as if nothing had happened yesterday, but even she knew better than that. She could feel all the guys eyes on her, watching every guy who talked to her. Andrew hadn't let her go anywhere alone, and the cheerleaders hadn't stopped whispering.

"Girl, what am I supposed to write about then?" Monica asked in a kidding voice, making Stevie smile again, rolling her eyes. Matt watched Stevie interact with all of them, her curls were pulled back into a ponytail, and when she talked her curls bounced ever so slightly.

"Didn't you have piano yesterday?" Stevie asked scribbling down some more stuff in her thought journal. Tara's head snapped up from her scrawling shooting Monica a look.

"Can't do that, taken!" Tara proclaimed, and the girls giggled, knowing that Tara had piano almost every day after school, and that's all she ever wrote about.

"How can you have more than a paragraph Steph? That sleepover was just sleeping." Monica told her, as she finally started writing about helping her sister Tony with her science experiment.

"Oh you know, just adding some things." Stevie said with an evil smile, remembering the last time she'd added something when hanging out with Monica, the teacher had asked if she really did lose her shoes on the school bus and get 2nd degree burns on her feet from the concrete.

"What! No you're not!" Monica said rather loudly, luckily everyone was in their own conversations.

"Just that we painted out toenails." Stevie told her reassuringly, glancing over Andrew's shoulder to see him writing about the new book in literature.

"You guys are wearing flip flops, and your toenails aren't painted, because yesterday in the locker room-" Tara started, to be cut off by Stevie.

"Do continue, I don't think all the guys are listening." Stevie growled at the mention of the words girls locker room before sticking her foot out to show that each toenail had a summer fruit painted on it with a baby blue pastel background.

"Damn, those are kinda hot." Andrew said with a whistle.

Stevie blushed and shrugged, receiving wide stares from the other girls. "Couldn't sleep." she said under her breath, only so a select few could hear. The girls nodded sympathetically while Andrew got steaming mad, but cooled. Matt knew nothing of what was going on, except that Stevie looked somewhat broken.

* * *

"Today we are going to play some ball, since tryouts are after school today. Now we only have half court since the girls decided to do the same thing, so stay on your side." Troy told them before taking a deep breath.

He watched the girls come into the gym, in their tight cami's and short shorts, he picked out Stevie, who was currently doing the splits, and other gymnastics moves to show Harmony. Her curls flounced with every move she made and that glittery lip gloss she wore sparkled off her white teeth.

"If I see any of you so much as looking at the girls, talking to the girls, or flirting with the girls I will suspend your ass so quick you won't even know how to tell your parents what happened." Troy growled.

The class was silent, normally Andrew would have asked if that only applied to Stevie, but this time he didn't. Because everyone knew it applied to Jake, who had enough guts to show up to school.

"Alright Wildcats, pair up! We'll start with some passing."

* * *

"You going to try out for point whatever?" Harmony asked Stevie as she passed the ball to Tara, who was barely paying attention, just watching as Andrew passed with Danny, captain of the soccer team.

"Like you even need to try out, your dad has got your spot." Monica told Stevie as she attempted a decent chest pass.

Stevie smiled at Monica but shook her head. "Anyone could be just as good as me, coach's daughter doesn't guarantee a spot, he just makes me work harder. Also, I have to try for point guard, I'm to short for anything else." she said with a smile.

* * *

"Baskets, lay ups now!" Troy shouted over the sound of a hundred or so gym shoes on the court.

Matt made lay up after lay up perfectly, shocking most of the guys, who didn't even notice there was a new guy.

"Dude, you didn't tell me you could play!" Andrew said doing their secret handshake thing.

"Point guard man, and you never asked." Matt told him flashing an award winning smile at him, to which some of the guys shook their heads in disbelief, laughing.

"I play point guard here, you look like you could be a valuable player for the team." Jake said, cutting in front of three other guys to talk to Matt. Matt just shrugged, taken back a bit by Jake's tone.

"Thanks man, but I really only play point guard, kind of short to play everything else." Matt said with a laugh, as some of the other guys laughed too.

"Yeah, that's what my girl says." Jake said smugly, cutting in front of Matt to make the lay up, but losing his concentration, he missed.

* * *

"No it's two flips then the splits." a high pitched mousy girl squawked at Stevie.

"Mel, I was captain, I made it up, It's forward, flip, forward, flip, splits. Here let me show you." Stevie said, in the politest voice she could muster. She gave a hand signal and Tara hit the music, causing everyone in the gym to turn to where she was on the mats.

She ran fast up to the mats and did a forward handspring into the air, then tucked her petite legs under and did a flip. She did another handspring and flipped herself again, her long curls swinging with her. Something went off in her eyes as she landed, and instead of splits she ran further and did an aerial, a roundabout, another flip, and then the splits.

The guys across the gym stared. Her curls hung down her shoulders, as her hair elastic had snapped during her mini performance. Her face was flushed and she was breathing heavier than usual, but she was smiling widely as the girls all clapped. Her eyes were back with their deep blue color and sparkling as she hoisted herself up.

"Whoa, she's really good." Matt said, thinking the cheerleaders at his old school were over rated.

"Yeah, coaches daughter. She gave it up though, she'd rather be point guard on basketball any day." Andrew told him, grinning and giving Stevie a little wave. As Troy blew the whistle Stevie ran over to the guys, Andrew giving her a high five.

"That was, really cool." Matt said, trying to think of something to say to her. Stevie just flushed red and shrugged with modesty.

"Stevie, he plays point guard." Andrew said tapping Matt slightly on the shoulder. Stevie paled a little but then grinned widely.

"Awesome, are you going to try out? My dad's coach." Stevie told him wiping the sweat off her brow.

"Nah, I heard that this one guy is already point guard, I don't want to mess with anyone, ya know?" he asked her, and in return he received a frown.

"That guy, he's not that good." Stevie lied. Truth be told, Jake was pretty good, not as good as Matt, but still really really good. "You should try out, with some of the past seniors graduating, there are plenty of spots." Stevie told him confidently.

"You play?" Matt asked her, and she nodded briefly.

"Yeah, point guard, to short to play anything else." Stevie said with a smile, she was short for a girl, where as Matt was average but not tall. Matt smiled.

"Stevie, last time I checked the girls locker rooms were that way." Coach said coming up behind her.

"Whatever coach." she said sticking her tongue out of him.

"You were looking good out there." Troy told her ruffling her hair, causing her to turn red, and Matt and Andrew to laugh.

"Daddy! Stop it!" she said covering her head and running out to the girls locker room.

"Class dismissed Andrew, I don't think I have your name down." Troy said checking over his clipboard.

"Matt Montez." he said running off after Andrew to get changed for literature.

* * *

"Great job girls, results will be posted tomorrow if my daughter leaves me alone for a minute tonight to get the results." Troy told them all jokingly, hearing Stevie groan of embarrassment. He chuckled to himself as the girls ran to the locker room, including Stevie, even though she would be staying to watch the guys try out.

The guys flooded into the gym, all knowing that point guard would be up for grabs this year. They all respected Troy as a coach and father, and knew he wasn't biased. But they also knew how he could get about his daughter, and had a feeling Jake wouldn't be making team this year.

"Oh boy." Troy muttered as the girlfriends of some of the guys trying out filled the bleachers. There were only about five, one who could be spotted as Connor's girlfriend, Sharpay's other daughter Melody.

Stevie walked out onto the court to see all the guys staring at her. She looked herself over to make sure nothing was out of place. Her lavender lace cami was in place, and her plaid purple short skirt wasn't showing her underwear. Her bobby socks were both the same height. She shrugged and continued walking as the guys parted.

"Connor!" She squealed throwing herself into the seniors arms. Connor was the first person under eighteen to hold her as a baby, even though he was just one year old at the time. He had always protected her like a big brother, and she often went shopping with his girlfriend Melody.

"Stevie!" He fake squealed causing her to playfully hit him, she scrunched her nose up laughing at him as he embraced her, swinging her around.

"Justin." she waved at Martha Cox's son, he was adopted from Russia and had jet black hair and amber colored eyes. He gave her a nod and she smiled, causing him to smile too.

"If you would stop distracting my players." Troy said jokingly coming up behind her and embracing her. She flushed a light rose but didn't care so much. The guys knew that she didn't have a mom, and was a complete Daddy's girl.

On the way up to the bleachers with the players girlfriends she spotted two guys standing sort of close in the corner. She headed in that direction giving Connor and her dad a start, they could only make out Jake.

Stevie breezed past Jake, stepping to the right when he reached for her arm and walked up to Matt.

"Hey, you look nice." Matt told her, causing her to flush rose again and look down at her shoes.

"Thanks, so you came." she said shifting her weight from one foot to another, giving him a shy smile.

"Yeah, you know, for the fun of the game." Matt told her with a nod, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"You gonna try for point guard?" she asked him, ignoring Jake clearing his throat, trying to show point guard was his territory.

"Well you know, to short to play anything else." he said, shooting her a smile and a wink before running off as her dad blew the whistle.

* * *

"Hey there Steph, I made cookies." Melody said shoveling some cookies onto a napkin and placing them in front of her.

"Awesome, your cookies are the best." Stevie said stuffing a chocolate chocolate chip one into her mouth, causing Melody to giggle.

"So who was that guy you said hi to specially?" Amanda asked. Amanda was also Ryan's daughter, and looked much more like him than Andrew did. She did have green eyes though. Amanda had been dating Justin since sophomore year.

"I said hi to three guys specially." Stevie said defiantly grabbing an M&M cookie. The girls all rolled their eyes.

"Yeah, but since two of them are being dated by us, we want to know about the third one. He's kinda cute." Melody said, poking Stevie in the ribs, causing her to squirm with laughter.

"Okay, okay, his name is Matt. He's new here. He plays point guard cause' he's to short to play anything else." she said giggling. "Oh yeah, he is kinda hot." she said laughing as all the girls started tickling her. They loved Stevie, she was like a fun little sister to all the senior girls.

* * *

"Hear that Matt, you're kinda hot." Connor told him as Matt rubbed the back of his neck before he got the rebound and sped to the other end of the court, making a three pointer.

"Shut up man, I bet they talk about you all the time up there." Matt told him passing the ball in bounds to another junior, Max.

"Of course, I'm all Melody ever talks about." he said in a girly voice pretending to fluff his afro.

"Dork." Matt said with a laugh.

"I got Jake for D." Matt told him, to which Connor nodded, going over to guard Justin.

* * *

"Listen man, point guard's mine." Jake told him, as Matt blocked him from getting a pass.

"Dude, it's for fun. It's basketball." Matt told him, slightly dumbfounded that this guy couldn't have a normal conversation.

"That's my girl up there, so you better not ruin this, if you know what's good for you." Jake said gesturing towards where Stevie was laughing with the girls.

"Stevie Bolton?" Matt asked with a questioning glance, stealing the ball and heading up court where he passed to Justin.

"She isn't your girl man." Connor said angrily, towering up over Jake in a threatening way, some of the guys continued the game, but others watched. Matt glanced at the coach, who was arguing on his cell phone with somebody. He saw Stevie jumping down the bleachers to see what was going on.

"Hey guys, as coaches daughter…get your asses back to work!" she said jokingly punching Connor lightly on the shoulder. She soon adjusted to the seriousness in the air, all the guys watching her intently. "What's wrong?" she asked cautiously, taking a step away.

"Nothings wrong babe." Jake said, a glint in his eyes. Stevie immediately paled as Jake took a step towards her.

"I'm not your babe or whatever, back off Anderson." she told him stepping away again, trying to mask the fear on her face. She looked for her dad and saw him through the door, arguing on his cell phone.

"Nice performance in gym today, if only you had performed that well in bed we would've-" Jake said with a smirk, but was cut off when a fist connected with his jaw. Stevie felt herself being blocked from where Jake was by someone, their arms wrapped around her, she felt like she was exploding.

* * *

"Stop fussing Steve, it's not that bad." Connor told her as she examined his eye with a flashlight, nodding for Melody to place the ice pack back on it. They were all over at Stevie's house up in her room.

"Not that bad! He fucking gave you a black eye!" she told him, her eyes tearing up. Her eyes were swollen and red from crying, and her top and skirt were ruffled, her hair slightly disheveled. She was a mess.

"Yeah, well he has a broken nose, an eye for an eye." Connor told her, giving her shoulder a squeeze. "Besides you should have seen Matt."

"It was a natural reaction." Matt said modestly, laying on a bed of ice packs that had been made on Stevie's wooden bedroom floor.

"You call giving him blue balls, and then shielding her from being kicked in the shins and clawed at a natural reaction? Remind me not to mess with you." Connor said with a laugh, drawing laughs from the rest of them.

Stevie got quiet as she turned to the second page of her book. All night last night she had only managed to read through one. She hated reading, she hated Jake, and she hated that he couldn't get suspended because an adult didn't witness the fight. Her dad believed her and everyone else, he was feeling guilty, but that wasn't enough for a real apology.

"Hey Stevie?" Matt asked her, twisting around on all the icepacks so he could face her.

"Do you need something?" she asked worriedly, causing Melody to snicker at her, to which Stevie returned a glare.

"You're reading your book upside down." he told her, causing Connor to laugh. Stevie blushed and looked at the cover illustration, realizing he was right. She flipped it and attempted to read the second page.

"Stevie has always had trouble reading," Connor commented lightly treading in a danger zone, but Stevie still said nothing, she just rubbed her head, she was getting a huge headache.

"Yeah? Go hold your book up to the mirror and read the words off the mirror." Matt told her, and Stevie obliged.

"You want to screw up her brain more?" Connor asked defensively, as Stevie held the page up to the mirror. Matt just signaled for Connor to wait, as he watched Stevie closely. Stevie intently stared at the mirror, her eyes scanning the letters, her face brightening with happiness.

"The letters aren't moving, and their all facing forwards!" she said with a smile, turning to beam at Matt, who gave her a thumbs up. She was beaming with joy at this point.

"What are you blabberin' about girlie?" Melody asked, removing the icepack from Connor's face to see what she was talking about. "I don't see what your talking about, it looks messed to me." she told her.

"That's because Stevie has Dyslexia, the letters move on the page and appear backwards when she reads. The mirror straightens out the letters, and they can't move because she's not looking directly at them. You're not stupid like you think you are. It's a brain thing, all you need is a tutor. I could ask my mom." Matt looked up to see Stevie crying. "I'm not a doctor or anything and I mean no offense-" he was cut off when Stevie embraced him crying he grunted and tried to ignore the tingling in his stomach.

"Thank you." she whispered, giving him a kiss on the cheek and rushing downstairs to tell her dad of Matt's suspicions.

* * *

"Hello, I'm Matt's mom, Ms. Montez, I hope this is the right address…………………Troy?" Gabriella asked dropping her binder in the doorway. He looked like she imagined him in her dreams, every night that they had spent away from each other. Her body suddenly ached for his, she need to tell him everything, that she still loved him, how she hadn't meant to leave.

"Gabriella." Troy breathed. Troy blinked repeatedly, he never thought he would see her again. His mind was suddenly in over drive, back to when they were teenagers. Before either could realize what was happening. they were both in each others arms, kissing senselessly, like she had never left, not stopping until they heard a teenage girl gasp.

**Thank you for all the reviews, Please Review again and let me know what you think!**

**To make some things clear. I know that holding a book up to a mirror is not how you diagnosis Dyslexia, and that it is a lot more complicated than what Matt explained, but for the sake of the story, that's the kind Stevie has.**

**Also, since all the kids lives can get kind of confusing, I'll do a small recap.**

Troy Bolton

-Stephanie Maria Bolton (Stevie, Steve, Steph) is 17 years old

Gabriella Montez

-Matthew Alexander Montez (Matt) is 17 years old

Chad and Taylor Danforth

-Tonya (Tony) is 15 years old

-Monica (Nica) is 17 years old

-Connor is 18 years old, he is dating Melody

Ryan and Carly Evans

-Emma is 4 years old

-Andrew (Andy) is 17 years old, has a huge crush on Tara

-Amanda (Mandy, Manda) is 18 years old, is dating Justin

Zeke Baylor and Sharpay Evans (They are married)

-Izzy (boy) is 15 years old

-Harmony is 17 years old

-Melody is 18 years old, is dating Connor

Jason and Kelisi Cross

-Mary is 4 years old

-Tara is 17 years old

Martha Cox (adopted two children after her divorce)

-Brianna is 15 years old, she and Justin and not biologically related.

-Justin is 18 years old, is dating Amanda

-Brian is 21 years old and goes to Yale, he's not adopted, but Martha and his dad split.

Other friends:

Danny, Max, Josh all 17

Jake Anderson is 18, he got held back in Kindergarten.

**Keep in mind while reading that this is a Troyella story and things are not always what they seem, but I don't want to give anything away, but it won't end up all sick and twisted. Promise. :-)**


	3. Fighting for fairness

-1Troy immediately jumped three feet in the air, Gabriella pushing herself away from him. She was colored a deep rose red, embarrassed for letting it get that far.

'This is seventeen years later, I have a seventeen year old daughter, who comes first. She left, she left you alone without a note or a letter, and she took away one of her children, abandoning the other without a mother. I'm not still in love with her, I can't be.' Troy thought.

'That was all in the past Gabi, you're strong, you've moved on. You don't only have yourself to think about anymore. Your successful, you have everything you ever could have dreamed of, this is the past, your future is at your house down the street, I don't know what came over me. But it's over, and, oh my god…" Gabriella thought as she caught sight of a girl on the stairs. Both adults opened their mouths to speak when Stevie's eyes rolled to the back of her head and she fell to the floor with a thunk.

"Steves!" Troy shouted, running past Gabriella to the bottom of the stairs where his daughter laid crumpled. She stirred slightly and groaned, moving her hand up to where she'd hit her head on the wood floor.

"Stevie?" Melody questioned from the top of the stairs, before racing down to smooth some of her hair back out of her face. "Oh my god! Matt! Connor!" she shouted, and the boys trampled down the stairs, Matt grabbing onto her hand. Connor went to the kitchen to get a glass of water, while the rest helped Stevie sit up.

Gabriella however, hadn't moved. She was still frozen in shock at the girls appearance, and couldn't get her legs to work. The teenage girl was beautiful. Gabriella's same curls hung down her shoulders, but they were Troy's caramel blonde color. Her petite, crumpled, frame was wearing light blue and dark blue plaid shorts and a navy cami, with a yellow v neck over it. A younger version of her face with freckles and cobalt blue eyes stared off into the distance. What she couldn't tear out of her mind was her son clinging desperately to her hand.

"Ouch," she groaned lightly, causing the others around her to laugh. Gabriella felt her legs get weak at the girl's voice. She wanted to say something, but she didn't know what. She forgot how to speak. She was swaying on her feet when a replica of Chad in high school came into the room and noticed her.

"Mrs. Montez? Whoa, okay you need to sit down." Connor said helping Gabriella into one of the kitchen chairs, and handing her the glass of water.

"Chad?" she asked him, squinting her eyes. The whole room fell silent and heads tilted.

"No, I'm Connor, Chad's son." Connor remarked proudly, causing Melody to roll her eyes. Connor wasn't understanding that it was odd for a "random stranger" to know his dad's name.

"Oh." she squeaked feebly. Troy was by her side now as Matt was helping Stevie into the kitchen, her reassuring him that she had just hit her head and couldn't remember what had been happening before that. How convenient.

"Okay! I found it! Aspirin?" Melody offered to each of them, unscrewing the child safety cap.

"I'm allergic." Stephanie and Gabriella said at the same time, glancing at each other confused. Maybe it was a really common allergy or something?

Troy sighed, Gabriella was back, and he already wanted to be holding her, instead of having her sit in that kitchen chair.

ThE NeXt DaY

"Hey, Connor told me what happened? Are you okay?" Monica asked Stevie the next day at school as they walked into the main hall, heading for their lockers. They were early today because Coach Bolton had a meeting and had driven them both early.

"Yeah, I guess, I don't even know what happened. The last thing I remember is being excited because I finally am going to get the help I need with English. Then I just remember my dad, Melody, and Matt hovering over me at the bottom of the stairs. My dad thinks it was stress related, since nobody saw me fall or anything." Stevie told her as they approached the bulletin board.

"It's so weird though, Mrs. Montez went to high school with our parents. My mom said they were all really close friends before they went off to college, but that they lost touch once they all graduated. Small world eh?" Monica commented, while Stevie just nodded along. It was pretty insane.

"Yeah, she thought Connor was Chad. Both of us were a little out of it I suppose. She's nice though, and my dad said he'd think about letting her tutor me after school today. He doesn't want to let me out of his sight though." Stevie speculated, pulling out lists to hang on the bulletin board for the athletic department.

"Did you look?" Monica asked, motioning to who made the sports teams. Stevie shrugged in response, posting up the first list.

"All I know is Danny made soccer team captain again, but only because I heard my dad and Mr. Kerth talking about scheduling." Stevie told her, stapling the boys basketball team list up to the board.

"Connor's on, so is Justin, big surprise there. Max made it too." Monica commented, surveying the list.

"Matt made starting point guard!" Stevie gasped. "On his first year here, he must be awesome." she said thoughtfully, full of wonder at the possibilities.

"Check this out!" Monica said pointing towards the top of the list. "Jacob Anderson." she said deadpan, causing Stevie to choke on air.

"What!!! How the hell did he make the team? I have to go to away games and ride the bus and everything!" she complained. "I thought my dad hated him and would never let him on the team! That stupid-" Stevie was cut off by a voice down the hall.

"Someone say my name?" Jack called, shoving Monica roughly to the side and scanning the list, pointing to his name. "That Matt kid ain't gonna know what hit him." he crowed, trying to pull Stevie in with his arm.

Stevie pushed herself off of his arm and wiped her red sleeve, as if germs had contaminated it. "Matt made starter Jake." Stevie growled. She hung up the girl's basketball tryouts results, and girl's soccer. Her name shown brightly at the top of the basketball result list, starting point guard. She inwardly cheered, she certainly hadn't been playing at her best yesterday. Jake's face was quickly turning red as he stared at the list.

"Um, oh look. Tony's on the team with you Steph! Oh look, Brianna made soccer starting goalie, I bet Ms. Cox is proud. Cara's captain this year, I didn't know she played soccer." Monica rambled, mouthing "run" to Stevie.

Stevie however, didn't notice and was posting up cross country results, noticing that Tara and Andrew had made it. She was reaching for the cheerleading tryouts flyer when Jake exploded.

"Seriously Stevie?! Are you shittin' me?! That Matt Montez kid has been here for two days, he doesn't take my spot. Who does that kid thinks he is?!" Jake roared, grabbing Stevie by the shoulders.

"Let go of me!" she said kicking him where the sun don't shine and backing up. "I don't make the decisions, I just live with the man who does! Maybe he earned the spot on pure talent? Something that you could try harder to possess!" she screeched, as he groaned in pain. She stapled the cheerleading flyer up and stormed away, Monica following shortly after she glanced at the cheerleading flyer.

"Where is Mr. Anderson?" Their homeroom teacher asked, causing the kids to burst out into laughing fits.

"At the nurse getting ice." a front row student Kate West said through chuckles. Andrew gave Stevie a high five when the teachers back was turned, and Matt gave her one of his award winning smiles.

"Darn, I wish I could've been there." Tara said blowing her bangs out of her face, trying to readjust her hat at the same time. The group laughed again at this.

"It really wasn't that exciting, or that big of a deal." Stevie said with a shrug as she flipped open her notebook and began to write down the details of their newest drama project.

"He was still laying on the ground five minutes later when people started showing up." Harmony snickered. "You must have hit him really hard." she laughed.

"She did," Monica told them while chuckling. "Then she just walked away." Monica said, beaming with pride. Everyone in the group was proud of Stevie, they just wouldn't say it because she would feel like the weak defenseless one, even though she'd just proved that untrue.

"When the nurse asked him if he wanted ice, he started screaming and swearing at her. He'll probably have a months worth of detention if he doesn't get suspended!" Andrew laughed, giving Stevie a high five, or attempting to, Stevie and Monica were actually listening to the teacher talk.

"For our next assignment, we will work in pairs that I choose." the teacher started, causing the class to groan. "You and your partner are to write a script about anything you choose. You will choose out of everyone in this class who will play each part, and you will take a minimum of five pictures of five different scenes where your story will take place. I encourage you to use your imaginations, anything is possible! This script will be due in two weeks, and will be graded based on creativity, grammar, and how well you followed the guidelines. Come up front for your partner assignment." the teacher said right as the bell rang.

"Good morning class, my name is Ms. Montez, and I work at Western Valley high school, also known as West High, and I'm going to be subing for your math teacher today." Gabriella said kindly, scanning the classroom. She instantly spotted her own son, and on his left was Stevie.

"Yesterday's homework was the review packet, which I hope you all completed so you'll be ready for the upcoming test." Gabriella said, pausing to look around the room, she saw Stevie and Matt pull theirs out, and others panicking that they didn't finish the whole thing. She just rolled her eyes, high schoolers. "If Matt Montez could collect the review packets we can get started on the last minute review questions, and maybe have a little fun after that." she said, looking over her lesson plan as her son collected the papers.

"Okay, does anyone have any last minute questions? You may not have time to ask tomorrow before the test." Gabriella asked, expecting nobody to have any questions so they could get to the game.

Sitting in her desk twirling her sky blue pencil, the wheels turned in Stevie's head. Math was her easiest subject, things always went together to form a solution of some sort. It was the same day after day, two plus two was always going four at the end of the day. She pulled at the sleeve of her red sweatshirt and bit her lip.

Gabriella's head whipped back around from the board the second Stevie's hand rose into the air. She didn't know how she knew, but she could just sense when Stevie moved.

"Stevie?" she asked and Stevie nodded, and began to recite her question.

"I understand pretty much all the material, but in the review packet questions fifteen through seventeen utilized the Quadratic formula, which we learned Freshmen year. I sort of forgot how to do it, could we just review the basics of the quadratic formula?" she asked pleasantly, stunning the whole class to silence.

"Sure." Gabriella responded shortly, amazed at Stevie's choice of words and how she knew exactly what she needed to know. She turned to the board and snatched up the chalk, beginning to write the problem.

Matt just stared. His mom was a teacher, so he remembered most of it, at least enough to get a B or higher on the test. He looked at how Stevies curls fell down onto her shoulders, and then rolled down the length of her back. She was twirling her pencil, which was a bad habit she had picked up. Often it made teachers think she wasn't paying any attention, but it was just the opposite. How could anyone miss the way her eyebrows would scrunch up in focus while she twirled her pencil. She would bite down gently on her pink lip and slid her teeth back and forth over it about every hour. Matt thought it was extremely sexy, and she seemed to do it without even noticing. His eyes wandered over her figure, even in a sweatshirt he could see her hips and her figure, which included a full butt and perfect sized breasts. She brushed a few stray curls away from her face as she carefully wrote down what his mom was writing, she was in her own little world that consisted of math and her notebook. He hadn't know her for very long, but he knew that she was amazing, to say the least.

"Matt, Matt? It's time to play the game." She said grabbing his hand and tugging him up, completely unaware that he'd been checking her out for the past ten minutes. But one glance at the front and Matt could tell from the stone look on his mom's face that'd she'd seen, and would be talking to him tonight.

"What are we waiting for then?" he asked as the walked over to the left side of the room, not letting go of each others hands.

"Steves!" Troy called out when he saw her enter the gym. She bounded over to him and placed a kiss on his cheek. Troy inwardly sighed, why did the shorts have to be so short, and the cami so spaghetti strap and thin? He used to die a little bit inside when he saw Gabriella wearing that uniform, wanting to be touching her on the other side of the gym. He glanced over his class, wondering if they were thinking the same thing about his daughter.

"Your running cheerleading practice after school, then you can hang out with friends and work on projects. If you need tutoring for English then just go home with Matt, the boys have basketball practice after school." he told her, backing up in preparation for the reaction.

"Dad! I'm not even in cheerleading, why do I have to run practice?" Stevie asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Because you're better than all of them, and I need you on the other half of the gym to control the madness." he concluded.

"So get Harmony or Melody!" she protested, groaning as she leaned on him to support her whole body weight. She wasn't heavy so Troy just let her lean there, then rolled his eyes at her protest.

"Harmony and Melody are part of the madness." he objected, knowing Stevie wouldn't try to deny that, because it was true.

The boys gym class was prepped and waiting, and overhearing all of the conversation. They enjoyed the banter between Stevie and Coach, it was all part of what made East High, East High.

"I want my car keys back." she stated, as the first of many conditions. It's not that she didn't like cheerleaders, most of them were her friends, and were really nice. But Melanie Lee, whose mom funded the team, drove her insane.

"Sure." Troy said reaching into his pocket and dropping them into her outstretched hand.

"She has a Porsche." Andrew said to Matt, who nodded.

"A month of free gas." she said, staring him dead in the eyes.

"Done." he told her handing over his shell card, which would charge it to his account. She pondered upon what she might want and her eyes lit up.

"No, the answer is no, it was no when you were seven, and it's still no now." he told her, causing her to frown.

"This isn't over!" she yelled as she ran over to the girls side of the gym, where they were doing gymnastics, as opposed to the boys who would be doing basketball.

"Hey, at least you got the Porsche back, and a month of free gas. You can drive us to Harmony's beach party!" Tara suggested brightly, doing a cartwheel. That's what most of the girls did the whole period, cartwheels. Gymnastics periods were mainly for the cheerleaders to prepare, practice, and get ready for tryouts, and for Stevie to just do random gymnastics moves.

"I completely forgot about that! Do you think I'm still allowed to go?" Stevie asked, wondering if she was grounded from things like that.

"It will be fun, here's what's happening. Today after school we all have extra circulars. But tomorrow's the big opening game, so we'll hang out then, and go to the victory party. Then Saturday morning we'll shop for cute swim suits, and then at seven we'll head out to the party." Monica stated, outlining most of Stevies weekend.

"Hmmm, I guess that could work. Yeah, I'll have to ask, but I'm pretty sure I'm in." Stevie said, doing a back flip just for the heck of it.

"You going to Harmony's beach party on Saturday?" Andrew asked Matt as the performed routine passing drills back and forth under the watchful eye of Coach Bolton.

"Harmony's the really blonde one right?" he asked, receiving a nod from Andrew "Oh, I wasn't invited." he said respectfully. He didn't really go to many parties anyways.

"It's not invite only, consider me inviting you right now." Andrew said with a grin, glancing over and winking at Tara, who shrieked in disgust.

"She's real into you." Matt said sarcastically, causing Andrew to roll his eyes.

"Give it time my friend, she'll come around. So will Stevie." Andrew said with a smirk, causing Matt to almost miss the pass.

"I don't even know Stevie." he told Andrew, trying not to glance over and see what she was doing.

"So get to know her, she'll be at the party Saturday and the after party tomorrow, think about it." Andrew said, just as coach Bolton blew his whistle.

The rest of Matt's classes seemed to whiz by. English was okay, Harmony and Andrew talking about the party, science was mostly staring at Stevie while she chattered with Monica, and then a quiz. Pretty soon it was time for practice, and Matt couldn't be happier.

"Hey you." Matt said approaching Stevie at her locker as she carefully balanced her books placing them in the right spots. Matt took the books from her so she could stack them easier and decide which ones needed to go in her backpack.

"Thanks." she said cheerfully with a smile, she seemed to be glowing with happiness. "Are you excited about your first practice?" she asked him as he fell into step with her as they walked through the almost empty hallways of after school.

"Yeah, with moving and all I haven't gotten to play as much as I like to, and in gym it's just not the same as on the team. Your dad seems like a pretty cool coach." Matt commented, excited about the new season.

"I know what you mean, I can't believe practice for us doesn't start until next week, I'm super excited." Stevie gushed, zoning off for a minute about the game she loved. "My dad's a pretty cool coach, he'll probably take you guys out for pizza after practice, so I hope you did your homework in study hall."

"Pizza, hopefully pepperoni?" Matt guessed before continuing on "I always complete all my homework in study hall."

"Always?" she asked playfully.

"Always." he confirmed, dropping her off at the girls locker room and then heading into the boys.

"Welcome to the first practice of the season. I hope your all ready to work hard to play hard, because this is varsity! We'll have a lot of far away games which will include bus rides and hotels, so we're not only going to play to win, but we're going to have be a team. This team doesn't run on one player, but on every single one of you and your ability to get to know each other. With that said, we'll begin with a scrimmage, so you can start forming bonds within the team. I just want another look at how well you play together. Also, please tune out the other side of the gym, stay focused people!" Troy shouted and then began the wildcat cheer.

"Okay, welcome to varsity cheerleading. This year involves two main things, skill of course, but more importantly, responsibility. You'll be traveling with the basketball team and you'll need to show that you can handle being away from home without your parents, while keeping certain guidelines in mind. Skill is a big issue, because the routines will all be stepped up, you'll all train and practice hard. Being a cheerleader is hard work, and a great responsibility to your school. With that let's begin!" Stevie announced, grabbing her clipboard.

"Anderson, Skylar. A minute maximum, what track number should I play?" Stevie asked leaning over the c.d. player. She was never good at using those, stupid technology.

"Track seven please." the shy petite dark haired brunette said. It was hard to believe that she was Jake Anderson's younger sister.

"OH MY GOD THEY'RE TAKING OFF THEIR SHIRTS!" Harmony squealed, pointing over to where the boys were having their first practice scrimmage. Apparently it was shirts vs. skins, Stevie could kill her dad for that. Connor and Jake were both wearing shirts, thank god, Connor probably had ten bite marks on his chest, ewww, bad thoughts. Justin had removed his shirt and Matt was throwing his practice jersey off. Causing Stevie to go wide eyed.

He was really muscular, like six pack muscular chiseled abs. Like a movie star or some sort of super athlete. His tan skin looked perfectly smooth, against where his hard abs were. She wondered what it'd be like to touch him there….

"No distractions!" she screeched, pressing track seven.

Stevie thoroughly made notes through all the routines with a list of girls she thought would be the best choices. Skylar Anderson, Harmony Baylor, and Kate West were the top three. This year there would only be two additions to the cheerleading team though.

"Stephanie!" a shrill annoying voice said piercing the gym's atmosphere. The basketball players simply stopped in their tracks at the sight of Melanie Lee. She was tall and thin, the body of a model, with alluring green eyes and glossy black hair. She wore the latest styles, and was wearing the latest styles in workout gear.

"Melanie, what a pleasure." Stephanie said through gritted teeth, rolling her eyes in aggravation. She extended her hand forward per usual, but Melanie just eyed it in disgust.

"Super sorry Mel, but tryouts just ended. Stevie here is almost done calculating the scores." Harmony told her with a fake sympathetic look.

"Ha, Baylor. You simply delight me with your little stories. However, as my mother provides for this team, she sent me along with a little pardon, ensuring that I would get Stephanie Bolton's full attention for my try out.

Harmony ripped the note out of her hands and stared, before passing it to Stevie. "It could totally be forged," Harmony whispered loudly to her.

"Well, the other girls were here on time, and I had a great selection, whose scores I'm already tallying. Maybe if someone can't make it you can be our understudy?" Stevie suggested kindly, fully knowing this wasn't going to end well.

Melanie simply began to screech at the top of lungs, her voice like nails on a chalkboard. Across the court the boys were learning their first set of defensive plays when the noise began.

"So, we want to SET UP A PICK HERE!" Troy yelled, trying to make his voice rise above the noise. It wasn't really working.

"COACH! MAYBE YOU SHOULD DO SOMETHING?" Connor suggested, pointing plainly at where Melanie was screaming with Stevie just staring at her in awe, wondering how long she could hold her breath. Maybe she belonged on the swim team.

"I AM SURE THAT THE GIRLS WILL FIGURE SOMETHING OUT IF THEY DON'T WANT DETENTION!" Troy roared, his voice reaching everywhere in the gym. Stevie sighed, try out it was.

"Okay then, thank you for that lovely show of vocals," Harmony snapped, taking Melanie's CD and arranging it in the player. "Steve, whenever you're ready." she said, giving a look of sympathy.

Stevie scribbled her name on a random spot on the paper she was using to tally scores. She mouthed "which track?" to which Melanie responded in three with her fingers. Stevie sat back to watch the horror show begin.

As she had expected, Melanie was both talented and rude at the same time. The girls had a applauded her performance, for which she smirked a so there at Stevie. When asked when the tryouts are going to be posted, Stevie sighed, that it was tradition for her to announce them now.

The boys were cooling down as Stevie began to announce the two new cheerleaders, her voice echoing across the gym.

"Thanks to everyone who tried out, you all did great! The two newest squad members are Harmony Baylor and Skylar Anderson!" she announced with a smile. Everyone waited for Melanie to complain, but noticed she was around. However, Troy approached Stevie with somber news.

"Steve, you're going to have to put Melanie on." Troy sighed, running his hands through his hair. He thought he'd be rid of cheerleader problems by now.

"Dad, I can't!" Stevie cried, her voice going into the microphone and bouncing off the walls. "You told me to run try-outs. That's what I did!" she exclaimed, crossing her arms grumpily over her chest.

"Sometimes we all have to do things we don't want to, I kept a certain person who I don't like on my team." Troy muttered, holding his hands in his non-existent pockets.

"But Dad, that was ability. Harmony and Skylar won fair and square, they are simply the best!" she argued, not budging for a minute.

"If you don't make this decision I will." He told dragging her over to the bench.

"Heads is Harmony, tails is Skylar." He told her handing her the coin.

"No dad, I'm not doing that." she told him with disgust, trying to rip the quarter out of his hand. It slipped and went flying through the air, landing right in front of Melanie.

"Heads it is." Melanie said with a smirk.

"Stevie?" Matt questioned, driving her home from school in his beat up truck. "We're almost to my house, are you gonna make it?" he asked, concerning laced in his voice. She looked like she was about to throw up.

"I can't believe that happened." she whispered, glancing up at him out of the corner of her eye. "That was so unfair."

Matt didn't have much to say to that, life tended to be unfair, and it sucked. "Maybe she'll fall and break an ankle." he soothed, causing her to fall into giggles.

"That is horrible!" she giggled, throwing her head back and enjoying the sun from the sunroof.

"So is what she did." Matt concluded, as they pulled into his driveway.

"Anderson's gonna get me now." she mumbled, just realizing it herself.

"That's not gonna happen." He told her firmly, grasping her hand, before ungrasping it because it felt odd. "We're all looking out for you, if he lays a finger on you, just tell us. He won't know what hit him." Matt smirked, and she gave a slight smile in response.

"Mrs. Montez?" Stephanie asked, halfway done with her English assignment.

"Yes?" Gabriella questioned meekly. She was surprised how shy and timid she was around her own daughter. She looked a lot like her, but the air around her was Troy's and she was nervous about that.

"How do you know the difference between right and wrong? I mean the real difference, not the law, but the real difference." Stevie questioned her.

"Sometimes it's hard. Sometimes you don't know, sometimes you think you do. A lot of times you have to believe it's what's best and try to live your decision." she told her softly, pointing to another question she wanted her to answer.

"If the decision could change your life, how do you know?" she reworded, beginning to scribble down the correct answer, as Gabriella directed her to quote a passage from the book.

"You don't, you just pray you make the right one." Gabriella told her daughter, the words sinking into her heart.

_Suffocating, that was how Gabriella had felt._

_It was a cold Halloween night, and she was pacing around the hospital room, desperate to figure out her feelings. She'd just had two children, and still hadn't taken to fighting her depression. She wondered if things could get any worse, they possibly couldn't get better. Her life was a long tunnel, and she was unsure whether or not there was a light at the end. She was tired of dragging everyone down with her, her children couldn't live with her in their lives. But as selfish as it was, she needed them. _

_A thought formulated in her mind. She didn't necessarily need both of them, and she didn't need another boy, like Troy who would try desperately to help but just have a feeling of defeat in the end. She wanted her daughter, needed her to survive._

_The twins were born right on time, surprisingly, considering how twin's usually come early. They both weighed a good amount, the girl weighing slightly younger. Ella. Just her name made Gabriella long for someone, something, an item of unconditional love. She went into the nursery looking along the rows of little babies, until she found the Montez-Bolton's. She sighed at the sight, but quickly grabbed her little girl, swaddled her, and made her way out._

_It wasn't until the cab had arrived at the hotel on the New Mexico Texan border when she realized she had taken the wrong one, she had her little boy with her, a piece of Troy_

Wow! I'm back out of the hospital and going through updating my stories, and I would say that this is probably my favorite. Not the most read, but my favorite to write.

So please read and review, feel free to ask questions of any kind, and provide constructive criticism for me and I may give some reviews and constructive criticism back for a story of your choice!

XOXO Still a cancer patient, still a survivor

Meredith Jane


	4. Hog Humor

**Hog Humor**

"So, how was tutoring yesterday?" Troy asked his daughter as she sat down at the kitchen table with toast, eggs, and raspberry yogurt. She contemplated while pulling open her yogurt.

"It was good, she's a really good teacher." Stevie informed him, taking small spoon full's of yogurt. Troy hid a smile when he heard that, Gabriella had managed to make it through.

"There's something about her…I don't know what it is…but it's a good thing." Stevie told her dad, adding salt and pepper to her eggs.

"I'm trusting you at the victory party tonight." Troy told her, giving her a serious look.

"Gee dad, confident much?" Stevie joked, fully knowing that the wildcats would win, they always did.

"Funny. Don't drink and drive, sleep over at a friends house, I won't be home." he told her, directing her attention to her basketball bag sitting near the freshly done laundry, ready to be packed.

"Where are you going?" she asked curiously, munching on her toast.

"Parent teacher meeting." he mumbled, deciding that's what he would call his talk with Gabriella Montez.

* * *

"I'm so excited!" Tara cheered with a jump, as the girls got their books ready for first period homeroom. Monica rolled her eyes, but the girls laughed along with her.

"I know, I kind of miss victory parties." Monica admitted, getting a fake gasp from Stevie.

"Monica, miss going to parties? Oh my my my…"Harmony giggled, snatching her pencil case.

"Guys, we'll be late!" Monica complained, drawing out the word guys. She glanced around for the boys but didn't notice them anywhere. They were usually the most late of all though, so it wasn't surprising.

A shorter chocolate skinned brown eyed girl made it over to the girls, and Monica groaned.

"Tony, don't you have other siblings to go bother?" Monica sighed, thinking of their older brother Connor and his friends.

"Funny." she deadpanned before turning to Stevie. "Your dad's in the office arguing on his phone, he told us to just have gym, but the supply room key isn't in it's usual hiding place." she told her.

"Oh, well I have one on me. I'll walk you." Stevie told Tony, swinging her locker shut.

"Thanks." Tony muttered, slightly humiliated from what Monica had said.

* * *

The restless co-ed freshmen gym class stilled when Tony brought Stevie with her through the door gym doors. Stevie gave them all a nod and followed Tony through the gym to the old hallways of the high school.

"Just a warning, there are weird noises coming from down here." Tony told her, not worried at all about what the noises might be.

"Huh," she said as they continued through the maze of hallways. "Actually I think I know what that is." she stated. "Matt? Andrew?" she called out, and the noise got louder.

"Figures." Tony said rolling her eyes with a sigh. Stevie just chuckled as they turned another corner, and immediately found the supply closest and the source of all the noise.

The metal barred wall was closed, trapping Matt and Andrew behind it along with the supply closet and student records room.

Stevie and Tony busted out laughing, catching the guys attention as they stood up.

"I knew you'd come for us! Steves you're the best!" Andrew exclaimed shaking the metal thing the janitor set up each night.

"Actually I thought you guys were just late, you're lucky the freshmen have gym right now or I might have never figured it out." Stevie said with a chuckle.

"We're not always late." Matt clarified, Tony and Stevie just rolling their eyes.

"I betcha I know what happened." she said eyeing a cream corn stain on Andrew's shirt. "It is the tradition once a year to steal the mascot of a surrounding school." she explained to Matt.

"The closest mascot, and the team mascot of the Warthog's, who we play tonight, is a huge pig." she explained.

"Connor and Justin always steal the pig before you, so this year you took a head start, first game of the season." she said, a small smile forming on her face.

"So you took the key to the supply closet, and locked the pig in their with food and water until game time, you were going to hide what you thought was the spare, so nobody would open it." she said with a nod.

"But while you were in here the janitor came and secured the basement and old hallways. You were going to wait for him to come back, but it's his mom's birthday, so he left before school started."

"How did you know that?" Matt asked in awe. Tony gasped.

"Oh my god, there's seriously a pig in there?" Tony squealed in surprise, before bursting into laughter. "You guys are so dead."

"Not if Stevie lets us out, you let Connor and Justin out once!" Andrew said, pointing a finger at her.

"Accusations, accusations, harsh Andrew. I let them out because Justin was having an asthma attack and Connor didn't know where in his locker his inhaler was. That's different." she said, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow in distaste.

Stevie sat down next to the metal fencing and opened up her lunch, passing them chips and water. Matt shook his head, but she kept insisting until they took them.

"You're leaving them in there." Tony stated, watching Stevie hand out her lunch. Stevie nodded, and Tony began to pass them sandwich halves and cookies.

"You're leaving us here!" Andrew gasped, as he shoveled his food down his throat.

"I…yeah…I think it's the right thing to do." Stevie mumbled, tugging Tony's arm as they walked away.

* * *

Lunch rolled around, and the school was concerned that their new starting player was missing, along with Andrew. Jake was boasting about how the new guy was scared enough to run off.

When Stevie rolled her eyes for the third time, Harmony snapped her head up from her thoughts.

"You know, you know where they are, otherwise you wouldn't be rolling your eyes, you'd be worrying like crazy." Harmony hissed, low enough so only Monica, Tara, Stevie, and herself could hear.

One glance at Stevie's guilty face and everyone knew that she knew.

"Seriously? Oh my gosh, are they safe?" Monica asked worriedly.

"Yeah their fine. Their together and Matt has his cell phone if he wants anything." Stevie sighed, picking through the school cafeteria's tater tots, broccoli, and mystery meat.

"Well, are they ditching?" Tara asked curiously, Andrew was a trouble maker, but he would never ditch. She couldn't picture the new guy ditching either.

"No, they'll be around later." she said firmly ending the conversation.

* * *

The basketball game rolled around, and Troy was fretting as the team warmed up. The stands were fully crowded and the cheerleaders on both teams were in full motion.

* * *

"Here's your jerseys and gym shorts and basketball shoes." Stevie said, unlocking both the boys. "You won't be able to sneak to the locker room without getting noticed, it's game time. Change here, hurry up!" she said frantically, shoving them both clothes. She turned around and heard a door shut.

"Don't turn back around!" Matt told her from behind. "Andrew wasn't wearing his lucky boxers, so he's changing in the record room." he explained.

"Ew, I finally understand what Amanda was talking about." she laughed. "Are you mad at me?" she asked, referring to what happened earlier.

"No. Even if you had the key, I wouldn't have been." He said, causing her to flip around to where he was putting on his shoes.

"You knew I couldn't get you out either way…why didn't you call me out?" she asked, her nose wrinkled in confusion.

"You like that people still think your strong, after what happened with Jake. The power to do all this stuff at school is something you hold on to. If you hadn't had the key and said that, we would've thought you'd failed us." he explained.

"Did I?" she asked him.

"No." He told her, walking towards the supply closest.

"What are you doing?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, backing up.

He swung open the door and a huge black and brown Pig charged out, nose to the ground, following the path to the gym.

"Come on!" Matt shouted as Andrew appeared, and all three chased after the pig, which was on a stampede of some sort.

"Did you get the path right?" Matt asked.

"I dunno, I tried. I've never poured pig hormones to make a trail before." Andrew said sarcastically.

"Wait, the pig is going to the gym!" Stevie screamed and a few moments later they all slid into the gym in a heap.

The audience immediately gasped, and the basketball players moved to the sidelines. Gabriella, Troy, and Ryan glared at their kids, who were pulling each other up, never taking their eyes off the pig.

The pig stampeded across the floor and heading towards the cheerleaders, jumping up and knocking Melanie Lee to the ground.

The crowd gasped as the pig stuck it's snouts in the crotch of her red cheerleading shorts, licking and wrestling around in her legs. Stevie had to admit, that was the most wrong thing she'd seen in…possibly ever, but that didn't mean Matt didn't have to hold her up through her laughter.

The Warthogs coach was quickly over there with a harness and leash, cursing under his breathe as he led away precious piggy Timothy. The assistant coach stepped up to coach the team.

"I trust you can hand out appropriate consequences." the assistant coach said with a sigh, he obviously didn't get paid enough.

"After the game certain measures will be taken. Stevie on the bench, Matt you're playing, and Andrew, I'm sure your dad and the football coach will be wanting to talk with you." Troy said with a sigh.

"Wildcats, huddle up!" Troy shouted over the crowds.

* * *

"I can't believe my mom is still letting me go to the after party." Matt said in shock, outside the bathroom at the Danforth's residence, where inside Stevie was changing.

"I can't believe my dad is letting me go either, especially sleep over and go to the pool party tomorrow!" Stevie exclaimed.

"Will we ever see Andrew again?" Matt asked her, and she opened the door to stand beside him. She wore a sleeveless mid-thigh red silk dress, with the perfect v-cut at the top, which didn't show so much but left you wondering. Black flowers and vines decorated the bottom right half.

"Not until football season rolls around again, so at least two weeks." she explained while he gawked at her in her dress. She turned crimson right away.

"You look gorgeous." he told her sincerely. All he had was his jersey, jeans, and a black jacket. She blushed more red, if possible.

"You look nice to." she said softly and they headed over to the upstairs lounge.

"You still haven't told me the whole story about the pig." Stevie said with a chuckle.

"Well, Melanie was a bitch to you, and from what Andrew's said she's given you a rougher time in the past." Matt said, sitting on the green couch and acknowledging other people. He pulled Stevie down next to him. "Well we were just going to show her that life isn't always fair." he said occupying his hand and eyes with her smaller soft hand.

"It got kind of out of control." she told him honestly, and he frowned.

"I took the pig, and Andrew snuck into the girls locker room. The plan was to coat the inside of her cheerleading skirt with pig hormones, the female kind, and then steal her red shorts. So when she was cheerleading the pig would flip her skirt up and everyone would see her underwear, and maybe she would quit and the people who deserved her spot could have it. I guess instead he just soaked her red shorts, thinking it would be easier. I never meant for it to be so, graphic and mean." he explained, tracing the bones in her hand with his finger.

"You have to look at me." she said softly, and Matt looked up and saw her smile. She gave him a soft kiss on the cheek, and lingered by the side of his head for two extra seconds. "Thanks." she told him, her lips forming a wide smile. "Nobody has ever stolen a pig for me before." she giggled, and he laughed with her, her laugh was infectious.

"Will you dance with me?" he asked her, motioning over the balcony to the makeshift dance floor. She smiled and nodded, and he helped her up.

* * *

"Hello Troy." Gabriella said, taking a seat at an Italian restaurant. Luckily it was very bare, with hardly anyone there. The perfect place to have their discussion.

"Gabriella." he nodded, focusing his attention on the menu.

"We should talk." she stated blankly, not knowing how to start up the conversation they needed to be having.

"That's why we're here." he said, not glancing up from his menu.

"I…I'm sorry I left, I just…felt like I had to." Gabriella whispered, her eyes beginning to water.

Troy looked up at Gabriella, and his eyes instantly softened. He wanted to wipe away her tears. But those days were gone, now it would just be the future, which would include court dates and visitation schedules.

"I loved you, and I never expected you leaving me, especially with a newborn baby." Troy snapped coldly. But he did have to give her some credit.

She was trying, she was trying to make everything okay, and that was something. Back before, she hadn't tried. Troy made the relationship work because of her depression. Them trying to have a conversation like this would have been impossible. It was impossible, for Troy had tried to have the talk when she had gotten pregnant.

"Did you honestly not see something like this happening?" she scowled. "I was bedridden the whole pregnancy Troy, whenever we tried to discuss the future I would just shut down. Did you really expect that I could live like that forever? How can you honestly say you didn't see this coming?" Gabriella told him, furious at his accusations.

"I thought you loved me and your children enough to put them first." Troy growled, scaring the waitress who had come to get their drink orders away.

"I did love them, and you. I still do. But sometimes love isn't enough to make something work. But I'm better, I'm improving daily. We have to try." she pleaded.

"Who says I want to try?" Troy asked, making Gabriella's face drop completely.

"I'm sorry, it was stupid of me to ever assume," she whispered, shocked, before Troy interrupted.

"It wasn't. I'm still, I'm still stuck with these sort of feelings to, and the what if's. But it's not that easy for me. I have a number one girl in my life, and that person isn't you." he told her, causing her to swallow hard and look at her hands.

"That girl is Stephanie Maria Bolton." Troy told her, and Gabriella's face instantly came back to life, causing Troy to chuckle inwardly.

"I understand, I feel the same in a way, Matt's just so independent now, he doesn't rely on me as much as I rely on him." Gabriella said with a smile, and the waitress decided it would be safe to take drink orders. Troy ordered Root beer and Gabriella ordered orange soda.

"Still drinking soda pop like a bunch of teenagers." Gabriella giggled. "I would um, can I see Stephanie for two hours every Sunday?" she asked, causing Troy to nearly choke.

"I don't think that's such a good idea." he told her. "She's not really used to having women around." he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Well, maybe she should." she suggested lightly, hoping Troy wouldn't take offense. "Haven't you ever wanted to know your son?" she asked curiously.

"Stevie is very versatile, she plays sports and does the girly stuff. I'm not saying I don't wonder about Matt. But getting to know him isn't something I think about a lot." Troy admitted, and Gabriella frowned.

"I meant to take her." Gabriella said quietly. "I never had a chance to do the girly secret things with Matt, Stephanie I guess goes both ways. But I've dreamed of her, forever. She's so much more pretty than I could have ever pictured, and she's so like me, but with your air about her. She's wonderful, please Troy, I need to know her." Gabriella pleaded, the two ordering their meals.

"I'm glad you didn't take her. I've needed her more than anyone over the past sixteen years. She's my piece of you." he said quietly, thinking seriously before speaking again. "Two hours every Sunday evening, maybe afternoon. But I would like to get to know Matt too.

"Of course." Gabriella said.

With that, they were on their way to healing.

* * *

**Reviews and P.M.'s are always welcome.**

**If any of you have any senior pranks, school pranks, or any pranks that you've done or heard of I would love to hear of them!**


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